SB 



("he Practical Farm Library 



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COIW PAY 



e Phelps Publishing Company 

NewYork Springfield Mass. ChicaSo 



1 



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Nearly Perfect Exhibition Ears 

Single Champion Ear, | A good ear, but rather 

too rough. 



Raid's Yellow Dent 



Making Corn Pay 

Bs S. M. JORDAN 

Manager of the Petlis County (Missouri) Bureau of Agriculture 




S. M. JORDAN 



THE PHELPS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

SPRINGFIELD. MASSACHUSETTS 

1913 



SB 19 1 



Copyright, 1913 

Phelps Publishing Company 

Springfield, Mass. 



A\! -.0 iOi/l 



CU361.J03 



Table of Gontents 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Production of Seed 1 

11. The Corn-Breeding Plat 8 

III. Seed Testing 13 

IV. Tlie Seed Bed 16 

V. Varieties and Color of Corn 20 

VI. Planting Methods 23 

VII. Methods of Dropping 26 

VIII. When and How Thick to Plant 28 

IX. Cultivation 31 

X. Tools Employed in Cultivation 33 

XI. Harvesting 39 

XII. Economy in Harvesting 41 

XIII. Other Crops with Corn 43 

XIV. Increasing the Fertility While Vv^e Grow Corn 46 

XV. Corn as a Feed 48 

XVI. Enemies of Corn 53 

XVII. Selecting Corn for Show 69 

XVIII. Corn Contests 71 

XIX. Fertilizers for Corn 73 



^ ^orn Talk 

The need for another book on the subject of 
corn growing might not seem apparent, as there is 
perhaps nothing very new that can be said — yet, 
since so many are not putting into practice such 
things as will make for better yields, to tell the story 
again in perhaps somewhat different style, may be 
useful at this time. 

It will be the object to put the entire matter in 
as plain and clear form as it can be done, that every- 
thing may be easily understood by a beginner as 
well as by those who are older. 

The study of corn is no exception to the rule 
that the more we know about any question the more 
fascinating the study becomes. If the writing of 
this book will aid some youngster in getting better 
results for his labor, thereby enabling him to make 
his farm more remunerative, that he may pay off 
the mortgage and build a good home; that himself 
and his family may be well provided with the com- 
forts of life — then the efforts of the writer will be 
well repaid. 

"A bumper crop of corn cannot be grown from 
scrub seed in scrub soil with scrub care." The 
above principle if thoroughly incorporated into one's 
corn ideas will certainly do him good, and the more 
thoroughly it becomes a part of him the more com- 
pletely will he heed the facts, since no one thing 
will produce a good crop of corn. While perhaps 
rainfall is the greatest one factor in corn produc- 
tion, there are a great many things that will aid ma- 
terially in conserving and rightly handling rainfall 
or soil moisture. 



CHAPTER I 
Production of Seed 

There are only a few farmers in the best corn 
sections that have not progressed beyond the prac- 
tice of getting their seed from the corn crib just a 
little while before planting time. Every man who 
thinks should know that there is as much differ- 
ence in the power of two different grains of corn 
to produce under the same conditions, or in differ- 
ent varieties of corn to produce under adverse con- 
ditions, as we find in the different individuals in 
live stock. In the production of seed corn, as in the 
production of high quality animals, three funda- 
mentals must be considered. We have produced the 
splendid live stock that we have by selection, breed- 
ing, and feeding. To make the same degree of im- 
provement in seeds these three principles must be 
adhered to, and in the same proportion. 

The matter of breeding seed in this country is 
comparatively new. We have resorted to selection 
and feeding, but omitted the factor of breeding. 

SEED SELECTION 

It is impossible to determine the producing 
qualities of an ear of corn to a very great degree by 
examination. If we are able to form even an opin- 
ion about the producing qualities of an ear of corn, 
we should at least know something of the qualities 
of the plant that produced the ear. Since nothing 
but an examination of the stalk and its organs can 
give us this information, we must study the plant. 



MAKING CORN PAY 



It then follows that in the field is the only place 
that gives such an opportunity, hence we assume 
that selecting the seed from the field is the one best 
way. 

The plan that seems most satisfactory is to go 
into the field as soon as the first ears ripen. This is 
indicated by the husks turning brown. It will be 

found that some 
ears ripen much 
earlier than others, 
and it will also usu- 
ally be the case that 
these early ripen- 
ing ears are good 
ones. It is com- 
monly noted as well 
that they are either 
medium in height 
on the stalk, or low, 
which is desirable. 
If these early ma- 
turing ears only are 
selected, and the 
same plan kept up 
for a few years, it 
is evident that if 
care is exercised in 
not reducing the 
size of the ear the 
time of maturity 
can be shortened 
somewhat without 
decreasing the yield. If this can be done it is in most 
cases desirable. 

In starting between two rows to select seed corn, 
about the first thing that should be noted on a pro- 



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Fig. 1 — Root Systems 

A great root system on stalk at left. 
Note also the short joints. The one 
at the right has poor root system, 
and joints are too long. 



PRODUCTION OF SEED 



spective plant is the brace root system. By brace 
roots we mean those which come out from one or 
two .and sometimes three joints above the ground, reach- 
ing down to the ground, Fig. 1. They are apparently 
chiefly braces, as the 
name indicates, but 
the root system that 
is below the ground, 
under ordinary con- 
ditions, is largely in- 
dicated by the brace 
root system. If one 
will make a trial of 
determining the dif- 
ference in the root 
system of different 
plants, he can do so 
by pulling up single 
stalks that have no 
brace roots and com- 
pare the ease with 
which they are re- 
moved with other 
single plants that 
have good brace 
roots. It will be 
found that in nearly 
all cases the plant 
with the good brace 
root system will be 
much more difficult to pull up. 




Fig. 2 — Three Plants From the 
Same Hill 

Note the difference in size, length 
of joint and extent of root systems. 



The principle that a 
plant cannot be better than its root system makes 
it should be kept in mind during the whole process 
of growing corn. We will need to think about this 
same thing seriously in the chapter on cultivation. 
If the root system is about what is desired, the 



MAKING CORN PAY 



next thing to be noted is the length of the joints, 
Fig. 2. If all other things are equal, I much prefer 
a seed ear from a short- jointed stalk than from a 

long- jointed one. 
Leaves, in a 
sense, are factories 
that manufacture 
plant food into 
plant tissue. Since 
there is a leaf for 
every joint or node 
on the corn plant, it 
would appear that, 
to a certain degree 
at least, the greater 
number of nodes 
on the corn plant 
in a given height, 
the better would be 
the corn factory. It 
is also well to ob- 
serve that the 
leaves are long and 
broad. By compar- 
ison a great differ- 
ence will be found 
these features. 



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Fig. 3. I prefer 
the ear to be in 
height from three 
to four feet from 
the ground. The 
height of the ear on the stalk is not vital so far 
as yield is concerned, but the lower ear makes gath- 
ering more convenient, and the stalk is less likely 
to fall. 



Fig. 3 — Variations of Plants 

Three growing stalks from the 
same hill, all the grains planted alike 
at the same time ; two are failures, 
yet had equal chances with the good 
one at the start 




Three Plants From Adjoining Hills 

Three grains were planted at the same time in the same way 
at uniform depth side by side and cared for in the same way. 
One succeeded, while two failed. There is a cause for it. 



PRODUCTION OF SEED 



The ear should point downward when ripe, with 
a medium length shank, Fig. 4. It should point 
downward for the reason that when the husks be- 
gin to ripen they will frequently open somewhat and 
allow the rain to run into the ear. If it is pointing 
downward, it also indicates that the shank is not too 
large and strong. An ideal stalk should not be too 
long above where the ear is formed. 

Ideal condi- 
tions are here de- ^ 
scribed. It will be 
found that com- 
p a r atively few 
stalks come near 
to this ideal, yet 
the more nearly we 
can approach them 
the better results 
we will have in 
getting ears that 
produce well. This, 
however, is only 
from the mother 
side of the ear. 

If we should 
find a stalk and ear 
as nearly approach- 
ing the perfect as 
could be found, 
and close around it were some poorly formed plants 
with inferior quality in all their organs, many of the 
grains on the ear of the ideal plant would be sired from 
the bad plants surrounding it, and this condition would 
interfere materially with the quality of the ear if 
used for seed. This matter will be discussed a little 
further in the chapter about the breeding patch. 




Fig. 4— Two Types of Ears 

Note one ear pointing downward, 
as it should when ripe, and the other 
pointing upward, which is wrong, 
when ripe. 



MAKING CORN PAY 



In a good field of corn a man should be able to 
gather perhaps from 300 to 500 ears from the very 
best plants in one day. Ten ears of the size we 
commonly like for a seed ear 
will plant approximately one 
acre. If one can secure 500 
ears in one day, he should 
have enough seed to plant 50 
acres. From comparisons 
made between what is called 
crib seed and stored seed — by 
stored seed meaning seed 
saved at gathering time and 
stored away — a. difference 
has been shown of between 
three and five bushels an acre 
in favor of stored seed. Seed 
of that character will not, 
however, give as good results 
as seed selected in the manner 
above outlined. It appears 
to be at least fair to expect an 
increase of five bushels an 
acre from seed properly se- 
lected above what is known as 
crib seed. If such were true, 
the one day's work of select- 
ing enough seed to plant 50 
acres should increase the corn 
yield on the 50 acres by 250 
bushels! Not a bad day's 
work for doing what one 
really should do. 

As soon as the seed has 
been gathered from the field 
it should be stored in a dry, 




Seed 



Fig. 5 — Stringing 
Corn to Dry 

Ordinary binding twine 
is used and the string is 
hung on a nail in the 
rafter of the barn, where 
plenty of air current 
cures the corn before it 
freezes. 



PRODUCTION OF SEED 7 

well-ventilated place, Fig. 5. It should not be left in 
sacks, boxes or barrels for even a few hours in warm, 
moist weather. Heating vv^ould thus begin in a very 
short time, and while the vitality of the grains might 
not be destroyed it certainly would be injured. 

It is usually advisable not to shell seed corn un- 
til near the time of planting; also to reject the irreg- 
ular grains on both butts and tips of the ears. In 
hanging seed corn it should be placed well out of 
reach of mice or rats. As a general rule a mouse- 
eaten grain should never be planted. These might 
grow under testing-box conditions, but are very un- 
likely to grow under field conditions. When one is 
thus selecting seed it is well to put some mark on 
a number of ears that most nearly approach the 
standard we have established. If from 25 to 50 ears 
be so selected, it is well the following year to estab- 
lish with these our corn-breeding plat. 



CHAPTER II 

The Gopn^Breedin^ Plat 

A breeding plat of perhaps one-half or two- 
thirds of an acre will produce plenty of seed for the 
average farm. The ground should be of from me- 
dium to good quality, or at least a fair average of the 
corn land of the farm. It is also well to select it but 
a short distance from the house, as it will be more 
convenient to look after the various details of the 
work if so located. It should be as far from other 
corn as it can conveniently be placed. Since our 
prevailing winds are from a southwesterly direction 
during the pollinating period, it is well to have this 
patch, if it can be so arranged, as far in a southwest 
direction from the other corn as possible, to avoid 
mixing with other corn. 

The soil should be as uniform as possible in 
both form and quality, so as to give every ear an 
equal chance. Every operation that is performed on 
the plat should be completed the same day begun. 
The reason is that sometimes work done on the 
ground one day will have a dififerent eflfect than if 
done on another day. When the ground is ready 
for planting, enough corn should be shelled from 
the side of one ear to plant one row. The ear should 
be marked according to the row that it planted. 
Every row should thus be planted from a separate 
ear and every ear marked according to its row, and 
the remaining parts of ears put away carefully in a 
mouseproof box. These should be taken care of, 
because in the fall when we gather the crop and 
make our estimates of yields, it will be most inter- 

8 



THE CORN-BJREEDING PLAT 9 

esting to go back to the box and examine the ears 
that made the various records. 

This first year every row should be treated alike, 
as the object the first year is to discover the high- 
producing ears. It will be found that variations, 
many times running from five to 20 bushels per acre, 
will be found. In the number of ears planted we 
may find that from lo to 20 of them have produced 
considerably above the average of the plat. These 



Fig. 6 — Tassel Just Appearing 

high-yielding ears, then, should be carefully pre- 
served and what corn remains on them planted in a 
propagating patch for the succeeding year. By 
planting these 10 to 20 high-yielding ears that we 
have found, and then during the season re- 
moving every undesirable plant from the plat, 
we will be able to get the highest possible quality 
of corn. 

The above work as outlined is intended only for 
the beginner in corn breeding. Determining 



10 



MAKING CORN PAY 



the difference in the yield between the butt half and 
the tip half of tapering ears, detasseling alternate 
rows and other things that the veteran corn breeder 
understands, will be practiced as his experience and 
necessities may warrant. 

We remove the tassels, Fig. 6, from undesirable 
stalks as suggested above for the reason that the 




Fig. 7 — A Red Silk and a White One 



tassel is the male portion of the corn blossom. The 
pollen or brown dust is the male element of the corn 
blossom and the silk Is the female organ. When a 
grain of pollen falls in the end of a thread of silk a 
growth sets up, passing down the thread of silk to 
where it is attached to what is known as the ovule 
on the cob. This action causes the grain to form. 
If no pollen fell upon the silk, Fig. 7, no grains would 
form. If the pollen from undesirable stalks falls 
upon the silk of a seed ear, every grain so pollinated 
will stand at least one chance in two to produce a 



THE CORN-BREEDING PLAT 



11 



plant no better than the one from which the grain 
was pollinated. This principle is the same as elim- 
inating the undesirable males from our live stock. 

It will be found in making up our estimates that 
the fanciest ears, Fig. 8, are not necessarily the best 
producers, yet we will find that the good producer 




Fig. 8 — A Prize Bushel 



has, as a rule, a great majority of the points to be 
desired in a fancy ear. It will be found also that 
ears of good form will average better under the same 
conditions than ears of poor form. Since the grain, 
however, is apparently the unit of production and 
breeding, we will never obtain the most desired end 
in seed corn breeding until we take up the work with 
the individual grain rather than the individual ear. 




Fig. 9— Picking Out the Good Seed Ears 



12 



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COWPEAS IN THE CoRN 



" CHAPTER III 
Seed Testing 

Since the discussion has been confined to seed 
up to the present time, it is well to consider the mat- 
ter of testing individual ears. Various methods have 
been followed by corn growers for a long time in 
attempting to determine the viability of a grain of 
corn. We can usually give a very good guess, but 
a guess is all it amounts to in the end. When I find 
a person who feels very sure that he can always de- 
termine whether or not a grain will grow by examin- 
ing that grain, I feel just as certain that that same 
person never did any individual ear testing. If he 
had done so, he would have discovered the fact that 
many times the ear selected as a favorite falls short, 
and just as often an ear that he had perhaps con- 
demned would make good. 

That a seed grain will grow is not quite enough. 
That it will grow with great vigor is what we should 
ascertain. Seed corn that has been frosted before 
it was very dry may not have the germs killed, but 
they are very likely to be materially weakened. It 
should be evident that a grain with a weak germ 
could not produce as good a plant as if it had had a 
strong germ. While the grains from the frosted 
ear may grow, a poor plant will possibly be the re- 
sult, with either a small ear or no ear at all. 

The testing box or some modern method of 
testing should be resorted to in every case where 
the corn has not been well matured and dried out 
before hard freezing occurs, or where the corn has been 
allowed to heat. A common method of testing is what 

13 



14 



MAKING CORN PAY 



is known as the rag-baby test. This is made of an 
ordinary piece of cloth according to the illustration. 

Such an arrangement of the cloth can be made 
that any number of ears can be tested, but it is 
recommended to have each tester contain tests from 
20 to 48 ears. When these are put in they should 
be wrapped rather closely, and after a thorough 
moistening should be covered with damp sawdust. 
The test should then be kept in a room about the 

temperature of a 
living room for 
from four to six 
days, when they 
may be opened up 
and results noted. 
Care should be 
taken to have the 
ears so arranged 
that they will not 
become mixed, as 
we want to remove 
those that have 
failed to make the 
right showing in 
the test. 

Sometimes a common egg case is used. A layer 
of cardboard is placed in the bottom and the grains 
from each separate ear placed in a separate section. 
The sections can then be filled with damp sawdust, 
another card laid on and another layer of sections 
filled in the same manner until the case is full. The 
top may then be fastened and the test kept at the 
temperature indicated above. When it is ready to 
be opened, turn the case upside down and remove 
the bottom. The grains appear on the top of each 
section and the results are easily noted. 




Fig. 10 — Result of Rag Baby Test 
No. 1, dead ; No. 2, weak roots only. 



SEED TESTING 



15 



This testing is easily done and perhaps should 
not be undertaken earlier than March. The boys 
and girls often take a great interest in it and do 
the work very nicely. Sometimes the school gives 
this work as a part of the instruction by the teach- 
ers. The way they commonly do is to give each 
boy a rag-baby tester, made by the teacher and 
pupils, and it is well usually to send the boys, per- 
haps in pairs, making a test of the various samples 
of seed corn in the 
district. If from 
10 to 20 ears of 
every farmer's corn 
is tested in this 
manner the results 
should give each 
one an excellent 
idea as to whether 
or not it is wise for 
him to test all of 
his corn. 

Where seed 
has been selected as 
was outlined in a 
former chapter, 
and this done before heavy frosts, and the seed 
stored rightly and well dried out, there is usually not 
very much use for testing. Practically every grain of 
this corn will grow, and grow well. 




Fig. 11 — Result of Rag Baby Test 

No. 3, weak sprouts only ; No. 4, strong, 
both roots and sprouts. 



CHAPTER IV 
The Seed Bed 

It is well known by the best tillers of the soil 
and has been true in all countries and times, that the 
proper preparation of the seed bed is one of the chief 
factors in heavy crop production. It is commonly 
very difficult to prepare a good seed bed from a poor 
soil ; consequently, to get the seed bed as it should 
be requires a good, fertile soil. 

Since corn roots feed rather deeply and require 
a great deal of moisture, it is evident that a deep 
seed bed is necessary. One of the most common 
mistakes in the preparation of ground for corn is 
too shallow plowing. Shallow plowing also induces 
soil washing much more than does deep plowing. A 
seed bed three inches in depth will hold but a small 
amount of moisture before the water begins to run, 
carrying the soil with it. A seed bed six inches deep 
holds practically twice as much water before washing 
begins and a seed bed 12 inches deep holds an enormous 
amount of water. If it were from 14 to 18 inches in 
depth, it would hold practically any rain that ever falls 
without washing. 

It should be remembered that very rarely do we 
have enough rainfall during the corn-growing season to 
make a crop of corn. It is thus evident that our corn 
crop is measured to a considerable degree, except in 
drouth years, by the amount of moisture we can store 
in the soil during the fall, winter and early spring. Too 
much plowing is done at a depth of four to five inches. 
The farmer who thus plows perhaps thinks he is plow- 
ing from six to eight inches, but when the measure is 

16 



THE SEED BED 17 

put on the depth of his furrow, he is usually surprised 
to learn that he is not plowing more than half the depth 
that he had thought. 

Another incorrect practice is to plow at about the 
same depth year after year. When this is done, the 
plowshare, moving through the damp soil and the feet 
of the horses tramping every furrow, makes a very 
compact, hard layer on the furrow bottom that is 
almost impervious to water. Some method of sub- 
soiling or deep plowing should be resorted to to break 
up this layer, allowing the water to permeate to greater 
depths. 

On many of our soils there is exceptionally great 
virtue in the deep-tilling machinery that can now be 
found on the market. Whether to plow in spring or 
fall we must determine by varying conditions. The 
advantages of fall plowing are that it divides our work, 
allows us to almost always get a good seed bed in the 
spring and sometimes gives us an opportunity to give 
the ground a green manuring of either weeds or some 
crop planted for that purpose. Very late fall plowing 
or winter plowing is one of the effectual ways to de- 
stroy vast numbers of insects. 

Whether fall plowing or spring plowing will be 
the best in case of subsequent drouth is determined 
very largely by the amount of moisture received be- 
tween the time of plowing and preparing the ground in 
the spring. If the weather is very dry, the ground will 
perhaps dry out worse by being plowed than if not 
plowed, while if there is a great deal of moisture dur- 
ing the winter, more moisture, of course, will be taken 
up by plowed ground than by unplowed. Since we can- 
not forecast the weather, chances must be taken in this 
matter. 

We must determine whether to plow early or late 
in the fall by the amount of other work at hand, by 



18 MAKING CORN PAY 

whether or not we have a green crop to plow under, or 
whether we are plowing chiefly to destroy insects. An- 
other advantage of fall plowing is that we can plow 
as deeply as we desire and if some rather stiff clay is 
brought to the surface the freezing and thawing of 
winter will put it in good condition. 

Spring plowing is sometimes chosen for ground 
that is very full of weeds, or where a crop was grown 
that we desired to pasture during the winter and so 
could not plow in the fall. Sometimes also the tendency 
of the soil to wash away has to be a determining factor. 

When spring plowing is to be done, the first im- 
plement that should be used is the disk or a spring 
tooth harrow, or something that will thoroughly work 
the surface from one to three inches deep. In sod land, 
where a disk will work, a thorough disking of the sod 
before plowing will give very satisfactory results. The 
disk should always be lapped half in all such work. By 
going over the ground from one to three times in this 
manner before plowing is attempted, it will be found 
that the plow can be set much deeper without increase 
in the draft. The ground will plow up much better 
than if the disking had not been done. 

In disking sod the surface is well cut up, and then 
when the furrow slice is turned and the disk put on 
again the seed bed from top to bottom can be well pul- 
verized. The greatest difference in the draft of the 
plow, perhaps, will be noticed in plowing sod. The 
plow will commonly pull one-fourth lighter. If the 
ground has been well disked in spring and we cannot 
do the plowing until late in the season, as is many 
times the case, it will be found that this disked ground 
will plow up loose and mellow, when ground not so 
handled will plow up very hard and cloddy. 

Disking conserves the moisture which in n-early 
every case at this season of the year is highly essen- 



THE SEED BED 19 

tial. In spring plowing there is great wisdom in har- 
rowing after the plow twice a day. "Clods can't grow 
corn," and because this is true many an otherwise good 
soil, planted with good seed and upon which a great 
amount of work has been expended has produced more 
or less disappointing results. 

I was once remonstrating with a man who was 
stirring his field of dry clods with a disk harrow. His 
team was working very hard, as their condition plainly 
indicated. I suggested to him that if he had disked his 
ground 10 days or two weeks before attempting to plow 
it, he wouldn't have had such a cloddy field. He began 
to complain that he couldn't do that because of his 
lack of horsepower. I suggested that if he had disked 
the ground before plowing it would have been much 
easier on his team, as the ground v/ould have been so 
much easier to walk over ; it would have made the soil 
so that it would not have broken up cloddy ; also that 
he could have plowed his ground two inches deeper 
with the same draft. 

Here was certain evidence to this man that he was 
using methods that were much more difficult for his 
horses than had he used the disk first and then plowed 
the ground. Then just once over Vv^ith a drag harrow 
would have put his seed bed in most excellent condi- 
tion. But he had done the work and the season was 
very dry, so while the soil was naturally good he didn't 
realize 25 bushels of corn to the acre. He had planted 
good seed, and had his ground been rightly prepared, 
with the good cultivation he had given, he should have 
realized at least 50 bushels. 

Remember that when the corn is planted, good 
seed used and the seed bed is in ideal condition, the 
big end of growing a corn crop is done. The subsequent 
work is a pleasure because it can be well done, and 
always attracts the eye of those who look over the fence. 



CHAPTER V 
Varieties and Qolor of Gorn 

The most that can be said about varieties is that 
nothing but a trial of different varieties under the same 
conditions of soil and care can tell which is best. We 
too often draw conclusions on this matter by comparing 
our own corn with that of our neighbor. That is en- 
tirely unsatisfactory. The only reasonable way to de- 
termine this is to select a piece of uniformly fertile 
land and try the different sorts by preparing the ground 
in the same way, planting the corn at the same time, by 
the same methods and doing the subsequent work all 
alike. This work carried out for one year will not tell 
the story, as one season one variety of corn seems to do 
better than another, while in some other season the 
reverse may be true. The trial of varieties should be 
carried through a period of at least three years. The 
University of Missouri has been directing a number of 
trials in this state for several years and a wide varia- 
tion with different sorts in different localities is found. 
In some sections Boone County White has seemed to 
be the heaviest yielder ; in other places the St. Charles 
varieties are more favored, and in many places Reid*s 
Yellow Dent has seemed to be the best on the average ; 
Commercial White has been a high yielder in many 
sections. It must be concluded, therefore, that the only 
way for a community to determine the corn best 
adapted to its average soil is by very careful experi- 
menting. 

A great many people hold to the opinion that the 
white varieties of corn will do better in old land and 
in the drouth years than will corn of other colors. This 

20 



VARIETIES AND COLOR OF CORN 



21 



may be true of some varieties of white corn, as some of 
them have a very heavy plant in proportion to the grain 
produced. The length and width of the blades, to- 
gether with the extent of the root system, are no doubt 
determining factors. It is evident, however, that if 
corn of any color has been given much care in the 
selection of seed for a few years, seed ears being taken 
only from short- jointed, well-rooted stalks, that 
corn will stand the dry weather better than any variety 
or color selected in the way commonly done. 

In surveying fields in various parts of the coun- 
try it is difficult to reach any conclusion as to whether 




Fig. 12— Johnson Co. White and the Cup It Won 



22 MAKING CORN PAY 

the white or the yellow is standing the drouth best. 
This ability of corn is measured more by the quality of 
the soil, the way the seed bed has been prepared, and 
the way the cultivation has been done. It should be 
very evident that there is no great virtue in pinning 
one's faith to the color of corn so far as yield or drouth 
resistance is concerned, but rather to the quality of the 
plants on which the seed grew and to the breeding of 
the corn. 

With reference to feeding value, I am not aware 
that corn of one color necessarily has a higher feeding 
value than of the other. The feeding value is deter- 
mined by chemical content, not by color. One white 
corn might be high in oil and low in protein, and an- 
other vv^hite corn high in protein and low in oil. That 
which was high in oil would be the better fattening 
corn and tliat high in protein would more nearly ap- 
proach a balanced ration. 

It is usually considered that corn that is high in 
protein is usually a little hardier than the same variety 
that is bred for high oil, while the high oil corn is usu- 
ally thought to produce a little heavier yields. Perhaps 
the greatest number of feeders, if they have a prefer- 
ence as to the color of corn, would prefer the yellow 
varieties. Some have concluded that this is because 
it may be more palatable than the white varieties, but 
it appears very evident that if the yellow corn is a little 
softer and can be masticated easier, stock will prefer 
it, especially when they have all the feed they desire. 
Its being softer would allow better mastication and 
there would be less waste from feeding the corn whose 
grains were not so hard. It is perhaps true that the 
grains of yellow corn are a little softer and less flinty 
than those of the white. 



CHAPTER VI 
PIsMiting Methods 

Methods of planting differ very widely with differ- 
ent locaHties. Perhaps the varying needs of the soil 
is one of the reasons for these differences, yet in many 
cases custom is one of the determining factors. Where 
any method has given fairly satisfactory results the 
general rule is that people are slow to adopt changes. 
There is perhaps no great need of changing methods of 
planting in order to take better care of the soil, but 
to make more changes in the cropping systems. 

The method known as listing finds favor in many 
places, especially in the drier regions. In soil that 
does not give trouble with washing this method, when 
rightly practiced, is highly satisfactory. This is espe- 
cially true if what is known as double-listing is done 
and the work done commonly in the fall or very early 
spring. This allows the ground to lie for some time in 
the rough state, so that the deep furrows will hold the 
water, that it may soak into the soil. 

The lister is a machine that throws the furrow to 
both right and left at the same time, leaving alternate 
ditches and ridges. The ground should be first listed 
very deep, then the ridges listed two or three inches 
shallower, and then a harrow run in the direction of 
the ridges, allowing the field to remain in this condi- 
tion during the winter. When spring comes a little 
harrowing will keep down weeds and break the crust. 
This treatment makes it possible to store an enormous 
amount of the water in the soil for the subsequent use 
of the corn. 

In the drier localities the corn crop is usually 



24 MAKING CORN PAY 

measured very largely by the amount of water that can 
be stored in the soil before planting is done. Except 
in very wet lands the corn is drilled in the bottom of 
the furrow. There are very few sections where listing 
is done where they drill the corn on the ridge rather 
than in the furrow. In such localities, however, good 
crops of corn are practically out of the question. This 
method, the same as any other, has its advantages and 
disadvantages. 

The chief advantages are the good condition in 
which the ground is left if the work is done in the fall 
or very early spring. If the ground be level or the fur- 
rows made on the level, much water can be stored in 
the soil. Other advantages are that the work is rapidly 
done and the corn set a little deeper in the ground. 
Some claim that listed corn is easier tended than corn 
planted by any other method, but there are many, how- 
ever, who could never be convinced that this is true. 

The disadvantages of the lister are that on land 
that is inclined to wash badly this method will perhaps 
allow more washing than any other. Another disad- 
vantage is that the seed being placed in the very cold 
ground that has not been stirred nor aerated nor 
warmed, makes the early corn quite slow, and there is 
considerable damage by cutworms. Sometimes we 
suffer loss by corn being washed out by the water 
running in the furrow or drowned by water standing 
in it. 

Another method is one known as furrowing out, 
or the furrow-opener method. This is where the 
ground has been plowed and harrowed down and the 
seed bed made ready. The furrowing out is some- 
times done with an implement made for the purpose 
and only a shallow furrow made. It is sometimes 
done by fastening a double disk to each shoe of the 
planter. By this method all clods and trash are throvv^n 



PLANTING METHODS 25 

from the furrow, the corn is planted at a uniform depth 
at a very good distance below the level of the surface, 
yet not covered so deeply as we commonly find in what 
is known as surface planting. 

The disadvantage of this method is that it allows 
a little more washing than the surface methods would 
do and in a very wet time on level ground water stand- 
ing in the furrows drowns the corn. All in all, on 
average ground, this method is to be highly recom- 
mended. 

The greater number of people, however, practice 
what is knovv^n as the surface method. The ground is 
well prepared .and made smooth and the planter passes 
over the surface without any furrows. This method 
is the most satisfactory because the least washing oc- 
curs, and that is one of the things to be guarded against. 
There are perhaps two possible objections that can be 
reasonably made about this method. One is that we 
often cover the corn with too much soil, and if the 
weather happens to be a little wet and cold the corn 
is likely not to germinate. Another is that in order to 
keep the weeds from the hill a little more ridging must 
be done than is desirable, especially on rolling land, 
when the season is dry. The advantages are chiefly 
in preventing washing and the ease with which the 
work is done. 



CHAPTER VII 
Methods of Ds^oppin^ 

The two methods of dropping the corn are com- 
monly referred to as hilHng and drilhng. Neither 
method has all the advantages nor all the disadvantages. 
The advantage of drilling is that it saves a little time. 
If weather and soil conditions were such that weeds 
could be kept out of the drill rows without so much 
cultivation as to ridge the corn too much, it might be 
that more corn could be grov/n to the acre by this 
method than by hilling, since it is more evenly dis- 
tributed. 

There is some discussion as to whether hilled corn 
or drilled corn stands wind better. Some claim that 
the hills permit the wind to pass through or among 
them without blowing the corn down better than drilled 
corn will do. Others claim that the hill catches more 
wind than a single stalk, consequently hilled corn will 
more easily blow down. It is my impression that the 
method makes very little difference. Some winds will 
blow down any corn. A field with a poorly developed 
root system, which is usually the case in a poorly pre- 
pared soil, will blow down much more readily than 
where the root system of the plants is strong. In the 
selection of seed through all the years of corn grow- 
ing, comparatively little attention has been given to the 
root system of the plant from which the seed ear is 
taken. 

Another cause of corn blowing down badly is that 
the roots have been cut of¥ either by worms or by cul- 
tivators. Deep cultivation late in the season is entirely 

26 



METHODS OF DROPPING 27 

wrong when possible to avoid it, for this reason if for 
no other. Corn roots come very close to the surface 
and the less they are disturbed the better. 

The advantages of dropping in hills are chiefly 
that we take fewer risks by this method than any other 
through being able to do cross plowing, and in a sea- 
son in which the weeds grow vigorously there is per- 
haps no doubt that corn can be kept cleaner than when 
drilled. In a dry year we like to cultivate as often as 
possible, and when we can cross plow we can prevent 
ridging, which is usually all wrong, especially in a dry 
season and on rolling land. 



CHAPTER VIII 

When and How Thick to Plant 

The thickness of planting should be determined by 
the average moisture, quality of the soil and size or 
earliness of the corn. Rows are most commonly put 
about 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 8 inches apart. On an 
average perhaps 3 feet 8 inches, with three average 
grains to the hill, gives best results, so far as yield is 
concerned, in the richer land. 

In thin land the practice is to put the hills 3^ feet 
apart, with not to exceed two good grains to a hill. 
There are just a few who contend that corn rows 
should be much wider, allowing more sunshine to 
reach the ground in the earlier stages of growth or up 
to the time of laying by. When the heated and dry 
season comes on, however, these wide surfaces exposed 
to the sunshine and wind would no doubt work detri- 
ment to the corn. This is overcome by planting cow- 
peas between the rows, so as to shade the ground dur- 
ing the latter part of the season. This planting is done 
at the time the corn is laid by. 

When the rows are put further apart a greater 
number of grains are dropped in the drill row. Farm- 
ers who have tried the method have been very well 
pleased with it. Where the ground is not pretty well 
shaded from the middle of July on, however, too much 
water escapes from the ground through evaporation. 
This raises a point that will be discussed in a later 
chapter where the subject of growing cowpeas and soy- 
beans in corn is considered. 

The number of grains per hill, as well as the width 
of rows, must also be determined by the varieties of 



WHEN AND HOW THICK TO PLANT 29 

corn. For instance, we could plant popcorn more thickly 
than we would dare plant Boone County White in the 
same soil. Early corn is usually smaller than late corn 
and consequently can be planted more thickly. From 
three to four grains per hill in rich land gives perhaps 
more bushels of corn than two to three grains, yet we 
no doubt get fancier ears by dropping the latter num- 
ber. Planting big corn in thin soil compares very fav- 
orably with hitching a pony to a log wagon. The num- 
ber of grains as well as the variety of corn should be 
determined very largely by the quality of the soil in 
which we are planting. 

There are two sorts of opinions on the subject of 
the proper time for planting. We find some who de- 
sire always to plant early ; others like to do a great deal 
of work on the seed bed and plant very late. If we 
could forecast the season, we could tell exactly what 
to do in such a case, but since one season will favor 
early planting and another very late planting, we have 
the two ideas prevalent. 

It sometimes happens that where cutworms or wire 
worms are not giving trouble, early planting is most 
satisfactory, yet usually early planting of sod land 
that has been plowed up from clover, timothy or blue 
grass means the loss of the seed. Where the ground is 
badly infested with insects more or less trouble can be 
expected until very late planting time. Under such 
conditions it is most often the best to do just as much 
work on the ground as possible, destroying all the feed 
on which these pests live and thus destroying a vast 
number of them, and to plant the corn very late. We 
commonly find the wire worm worse in timothy sod. 

Where sod lands are put to corn the plowing 
should be done late in the fall if at all possible. If not, 
then as early as possible in spring. These pests will 
live more or less on the grass roots that may be alive 



3Q MAKING CORN PAY 

and new vegetation that may start, and if fall plowing is 
done and a great deal of spring plowing accomplished, 
the vegetation is practically all destroyed, with result- 
ing great destruction of the insects. 

Root lice are often very bad in the plowed-up 
clover field. Thorough work on the ground, keeping 
down all vegetation until medium late planting time, is 
a very effective way of combating insects of this kind. 

Sometimes early planted corn is beginning to tassel 
when hot weather begins. Under such conditions late 
planting is a little better, but sometimes the hot winds 
begin when late corn is tasseling and in this event early 
corn has the advantage. Where early planting can be 
done perhaps the best quality of seed corn, on an aver- 
age, can be secured from these fields, as it is commonly 
well matured and dry before the first frost occurs. 
Although the very early planting may be caught by a 
late spring frost, it is commonly out of danger of early 
fall frost. 



CHAPTER IX 
Cultivation 

When the seed has been properly prepared and 
selected, the seed bed work done, and the corn rightly 
planted, our work to a very great degree is accom- 
plished. Another great factor in corn production is 
proper cultivation. While, of course, it must be con- 
ceded that the corn crop is measured very largely by 
the rainfall, the moisture can be controlled, in a meas- 
ure, by the man who is doing the work. We had abun- 
dant evidence of this fact in the years 1901, 1911 and 
1913 at many points in the corn belt. In these years 
where all parts of the farmer's work was well done it 
was almost wonderful how those crops of corn stood 
the dry weather and fierce heat. It was also noticeable 
that in fields in which the fertility of the soil had been 
lost, the humus exhausted, the seed bed poorly pre- 
pared, low quality seed used, or incorrect methods of 
cultivation employed, very discouraging results fol- 
lowed. 

While no one way is best all the time and every- 
where, there are certain well-defined principles upon 
which we can rely and from which we should be able 
to draw logical conclusions as to what methods are 
best under the circumstances and conditions we may 
have at hand. Each man to a very great degree must 
be his own judge in the matter, for no specific rules 
can be laid down. A plan that works well one year 
may be entirely wrong in a different year. Too often 
it occurs that some person having a fixed way of culti- 
vating corn will cultivate it that way no matter what 

31 



Z2 MAKING CORN PAY 

may be the soil or season. Usually these are the per- 
sons who make the greatest number of failures. Dur- 
ing the terrific drouths of the years above mentioned, I 
found that in very many places — in fact, in thousands 
of fields — wet weather methods were being employed. 

It certainly should seem clear that the season, the 
depth of the soil or the kind of soil and the lay of the 
land should make it possible for any man to adopt 
methods that most nearly meet the conditions at hand. 
We find many very flat lands with a highly impervious 
soil in which about the only safe method is to drill 
the corn. For the sake of the future condition of the 
soil of such fields it seems necessary to do at least a 
little ridging during the period of cultivation. If this 
is not done, when the wet season begins or if the sea- 
son be wet, the corn is likely to drown. When such 
land is kept perfectly flat during the season it makes 
it very difficult to handle the following spring. 

It can be laid down as a very general rule that ridg- 
ing on rolling or washy land is not the best method, 
no matter what may be the season. It is also a well 
known principle that by stirring the surface of the 
ground often during a dry tim.e moisture is retained 
in the soil better than if no cultivation is done. For 
this reason we find good results by what is known as 
after-cultivation for the purpose of conserving mois- 
ture in very dry weather. 



CHAPTER X 

Tools Employed in Qultivation 

Ideas vary widely in a great many phases of corn 
cultivation, especially as to tools. It appears evident 
that one difficulty is standing in the way, and that is 
that the average man hardly feels justified or able to 
buy the necessary machinery to do the best work in 
growing his crop. It is a fundamental principle also 
that to make the success that a farmer would like to 
make plenty of power and plenty of machinery is posi- 
tively necessary. On a small farm where one or two 
men may be doing the work, one corn-tilling machine 
will be supplied each, and all the work from the first 
to the last cultivation is done with the same tools. 

Hardly a year passes when best results can be se- 
cured with but one implement with which to do the 
cultivating. The word of 10 men who have tried a 
thing and found it good is worth more than the word of 
1,000 men who have never tried that same thing, but 
who condemn it. 

Farmers who use what is known as the weeder 
are almost a unit in praising this tool for the first two 
or three cultivations. Many of our best farmers are 
partial to the harrow for this same reason. There is 
another school of agriculturists who begin with the 
cultivator and end with the cultivator when the corn 
gets so high that they are likely to break some of it 
down, and no other tool is used. In listed corn various 
tools are used the first time or two over with more or 
less satisfaction. In many soils when the season is dry 
enough to justify and the furrow opener has been used, 

33 



34 MAKING CORN PAY 

the roller is the first tool employed. Then a harrow, 
or preferably a very small shovel cultivator, can be em- 
ployed with gratifying results. The type of soil de- 
termines to a very great degree the type of machine 
to use. The cultivator perhaps most in favor is the 
one having, the three-shovel gang. If only one tool is 
•employed in cultivation this perhaps is as good an aver- 
age as we can find. 

In my own experience the favorite tool under the 
greatest number of conditions has been the one with the 
five-shovel gang, the shovels being very small, or the 
plow that is known as the spring-tooth gang. This 
machine, however, is unsatisfactory where the ground 
is very hard or the weeds very high. Where the ground 
can be kept in anything like good condition, this ma- 
chine meets the requirements most excellently. There 
are yet some who prefer the old time two-shovel gang 
with large shovels. 

There are perhaps a few sections of the country 
where the soil does not break easily, the ground being 
level and the land such as is commonly called poor 
land. This is where the big shovel is most in favor. 
The disk cultivator is about as good as can be found in 
such sections and under conditions that ridging is ad- 
visable. Ridging can then be done if the disks are not 
set deep enough to injure the roots of the corn very 
much. 

An objection to the disk, in addition to its ridging 
the ground too much, is that it leaves more or less of 
a hard center between the rows and exposes many roots 
in that position. This hard center is likely to crack 
badly in a dry time, and when the ground cracks water 
is escaping at a very rapid rate from the openings dur- 
ing the heat of a windy day. 

Most of the disk cultivators are made with parts 
to level the ground back after it has once been thrown 



TOOLS EMPLOYED IN CULTIVATION 35 

toward the row, yet perhaps 99 farmers out of every 
100 remove these levelers and do not use them at all. 
When the disk cultivator is employed the first time I 
run the disks very close to the row, moving the soil 
slightly away from the row. This is commonly called 
barring off. No mischief can result from this prac- 
tice under any weather conditions if the soil is thrown 
back very shortly after being thrown away. 

Where ridging is done with plows that have shov- 
els the great difficulty is that the shovels are run so 
deeply into the ground that a vast number of corn 
roots are cut off. A number of years ago after-culti- 
vation was many times practiced, using what was 
known as a diamond plow. This was a little turning 
plow, usually run not to exceed 1^ inches in depth. 
That would cut off the small weeds between the rows 
and cover those in the row. With a diamond plow not 
half the mischief was done to the roots that we find 
today with the shovel gang as it is sometimes used. 

Years ago our soil was fertile, and about all wc 
had to do was to stir the ground a little, put in the seed, 
cultivate a time or two and reap a generous harvest. 
This led to the rule of having a certain number of times 
to cultivate the corn. That time is now all past. Some 
years it is necessary to cultivate much more than it is 
other years. This is especially true of a very dry sea- 
son. I used to cultivate corn three or four times and 
then quit, but now find it of advantage in very dry 
years to keep up some method of cultivation for a long 
time after the corn is too large to cultivate with an 
ordinary cultivator. 

For this purpose a vast number of different sorts 
of machines have been employed. Sometimes what is 
known as the 14-tooth cultivator is used, sometimes 
a machine made for that particular purpose that is 
sold on the market ; sometimes small boards made into 



36 MAKING CORN PAY 

a drag; sometimes a corn planter wheel or a mower 
wheel or a forked tree made into an "A" harrow. It 
matters not what sort of machine may be used, pro- 
vided one does not lose sight of a few fundamentals. 
One difficulty with the five-tooth garden plow or the 
14-tooth cultivator is that we are likely to have the 
outside shovels set a little too deep and we tear out too 
many corn roots. 

The mower wheel or the corn-planter wheel, while 
in many cases giving efficient service, yet certainly are 
not best, because they leave a perfectly smooth surface 
of dust. If this is done and a heavy beating rain be- 
gins, puddling of the surface will begin in a short time, 
and under such conditions the water soaks through very 
slowly and consequently begins running. Then, when 
the ground has dried off, this smooth surface bakes 
very hard and makes subsequent work unsatisfactory. 
We should have the clods smashed into dust, and if 
we could arrange a machine that would make the 
ground perfectly smooth yet leave creases in the dust 
behind the machine, we would undoubtedly have about 
what we need. This seems to be accomplished in what 
is known as the wooden float, which has a number of 
harrow teeth toward the back portion, slanting pretty 
well back. By putting the right amount of weight on 
this it smashes the clods and leaves a dust on the sur- 
face, yet the harrow teeth leave creases in the dust 
through which water can readily penetrate. When the 
ground dries off the very hard crust will be largely 
avoided. 

Sometimes if the ground is left perfectly smooth 
with a dust covering a heavy rainfall leaves the ground 
in worse condition than if the dragging had not been 
done. This sometimes occurs under these conditions 
and at the season of the year that heavy winds accom- 
pany the rain. If the corn is blown down badly we 




Very Fine Butt and Tip 




How Butts of Show Ears Should Appear 
Butts of champion ten ears of 1910 show, Yellow Dent. 



TOOLS EMPLOYED IN CULTIVATION 37 

cannot get through it again to plow the crust that forms, 
consequently some plan should be employed to make 
the least amount of crusting. 

The crust that forms on the ground after a rain 
soon fills with cracks. This crust and the cracks let 
the water out into the air at a wonderfully rapid rate. 
The breaking of the crust and the filling of the cracks 
is much like spreading a blanket over the field to keep 
the water in. This after-cultivation is hardly necessary 
in a good year, but highly beneficial when the season 
is very dry. It was noticed in central Missouri in 1913 
that in fields where level cultivation was practiced the 
corn stood the drouth much better than where ridged. 
For the first three weeks of the dry weather little dif- 
ference could be noticed between the corn that had been 
after-cultivated and that which had not, but some 10 
days or two weeks later that which had been after- 
cultivated was standing the drouth very much better. 

During the drouth of 1911 every available means 
was employed to urge the work of after-cultivation ; 
as a result all sorts of machines were used and perhaps 
as good work as was ever done in corn fields was done 
that year ; as a result the corn was held in fair condi- 
tion until the rains finally did come. The Missouri 
state average that year was 25.3 bushels an acre when 
the state average in 1901, with a drouth not so severe, 
was only a little more than nine bushels to the acre. 

The number of times corn should be cultivated 
must always be determined by conditions as I have 
outlined above. The machines for cultivation should 
be such as will meet these conditions. When a drag is 
used for after-cultivation it is a common practice to 
make two of them, as one man can drive two horses, 
each one hitched to a drag, dragging two spaces each 
time through. 

In seasons such as 1911 and 1913 in central Mis- 



38 MAKING CORN PAY 

souri, thoroughly rolHng the ground is highly beneficial. 
The roller, however, should be avoided when the 
ground is very moist. One of the best rollers that I 
have ever seen for such work as this is a corrugated 
roller from which the two central disks or wheels were 
removed and perhaps two from each end, thus per- 
mitting two spaces to be rolled without the machine 
running directly through the hill. This machine not 
only smashes the clods but avoids leaving the objection- 
able flat surface already discussed. 



CHAPTER XI 
Harvesting 

When land is worth from $50 an acre to $200 or 
$300 an acre it looks like poor economy to work a sea- 
son to grow a good crop and then waste about 40 per 
cent of it. This 40 per cent of the feed value of corn 
we find in the stalks. Where these are left standing 
in the field and only the grain harvested this is about 
the loss that we experience. The corn stalks, to be most 
valuable, should be put into the silo. It is thus ren- 
dered just as palatable as the green corn stalks, and we 
save practically the entire crop. By putting the corn 
into the silo a good deal of labor and expense is in- 
curred, but it all comes at one time and is over quickly, 
leaving plenty of time for fall plowing, sowing fall 
crops, repairing fences, painting barn or house, trim- 
ming orchards or doing other work as we find most 
need for doing. 

It is not likely that all farmers would have use for 
all the corn stalks they grow if put into the silo, but 
the fact remains that practically every year in every 
neighborhood much stock is half starved through the 
winter and goes into the spring in producing young or 
doing work under very unfavorable conditions. 

Corn that is left after the silo is filled may be cut 
into fodder, and fodder makes an excellent feed dur- 
ing the cold winter weather, especially when there is 
snow on the ground to keep it clean. While there is 
a good deal of waste from the corn stalks, they can 
be utilized to a most excellent advantage if the fodder 
is hauled out on the poorest places in the field or pas- 
ture and fed there for the purposes of building up the 



40 MAKING CORN PAY 

soil. The one serious objection to cutting up corn for 
fodder is that by the common methods we have an all- 
winter's job. Enough, however, ought to be either put 
into the silo or the shock that we may be sure we have 
enough feed to supply our stock liberally until we can 
put them on grass in the spring. 

If we have had enough fodder to feed through the 
winter until grass comes and have not touched the feed 
in the silo, there will very likely be a time beginning in 
July and lasting through August when the pastures are 
desperately short and dry, and this feed in the silo will 
come in fine play under such conditions. 

There are two or three objections to leaving the 
stalks standing in the field in the winter time. One is 
that they furnish harbors for noxious insects, and while 
they furnish some vegetable matter if turned under, it 
would be better if they were put into the silo and the 
manure from the barn returned to the land. One of 
the serious objections is that we depend on the stalk 
field to feed our stock when many times they are suf- 
fering and hungry because they have to subsist on a 
ration that has little food value. The same type of 
farmer is usually out of feed in the spring, and he lets 
his stock tramp over the fields through the mud in 
search of feed. This tramping has a very bad effect 
on the field for the crops that are to follow. It is a 
bad practice to allow the live stock in the fields after 
the ground begins thawing in spring. 



CHAPTER XII 
Economy in Harvesting 

We find many people who think it looks lazy to 
*'snap" corn rather than remove it from the husks. 
There is an objection to cribbing corn with the husks 
on. It takes more crib room and feeding stock 
where the husks must be removed requires more time 
in feeding. Yet, when we count the economy of time 
in gathering corn and utilizing to the best possible 
advantage the fine autumn days for this work, we are 
fortunate indeed if we can gather it and have it all done 
before bad weather comes. Gathering corn out of the 
snow is no pleasant work. Some husk enough corn for 
the horses and ''snap" the remainder for the hogs and 
cattle. 

Corn left in the husk usually keeps very much 
cleaner and freer from rats and mice than when the 
husks are removed. 

Where fodder is cut I have always been partial to 
the corn binder. This may seem to cost a little more 
while the work is going on, and it knocks off a few 
ears, and once in a while leaves a stalk, but corn in 
bundles is convenient for handling, and this is a very 
great item indeed when we remember that we must 
handle fodder on a great many days in winter. It is 
too often the case that when we depend on the man 
with the corn knife he will work a few days, and pos- 
sibly when Saturday night comes and he receives his 
pay he leaves us with a promise to return Monday 
morning, but we never see him again. One of his most 
characteristic traits is to know how to charge enough 
for his work. If we desire to put the corn into the 

41 



42 MAKING CORN PAY 

silo, it is certainly great economy to use the binder. 
When the corn is in bundles and we have a low wagon 
or a fodder sled one man can handle the fodder to ex- 
cellent advantage. For such work as this a low-wheeled 
wagon with a large platform is very desirable, as one 
can drive close to the shock and stand on the platform 
and load every shock until perhaps the last one. 



CHAPTER XIII 
Other Qrops With Qorn 

In a good soil and a favorable season two crops 
are usually grown in the corn fields — one crop of corn 
and one of weeds. This fact led to the idea that some 
good crop can be grown in the corn just as well as 
weeds, and this good crop will have some value as feed, 
as fertilizer, and as keeping down the noxious weeds. 

One crop sometimes grown in corn is Dwarf Essex 
Rape. This is commonly sown after the last cultivation, 
and if in a good soil, with reasonable weather, will make 
a great amount of feed for lambs or pigs that may be 
turned into the field. It will remain green until heavy 
frosts come. 

The favorite crops, however, to grow in corn are 
cowpeas and soy beans. There are two methods by 
which this is done, and sometimes both cowpeas and 
soy beans are grown in the same field of corn. The 
erect habit of growth of the soy beans makes them 
desirable to grow in the hills, since they interfere less 
with cultivating than do cowpeas. If it is desired to 
put lambs or hogs in the field when the beans are ripe, 
some that have a low habit of growth such as the Mon- 
gul. Sable, or Ito-San, are very good. Where it is de- 
sired to put the corn and the beans into the silo, such 
varieties as Medium Yellow or Mammoth are prefer- 
able. 

When cowpeas are put in the corn for the silo it 
is desirable to have some of the vining varieties that 
twine around the corn, in order that harvesting may 
be accomplished to the best advantage. Such varie- 
ties are Clay, Little Black, Groit, and Whippoorwill. 



44 MAKING CORN PAY 

The sort used for planting in the hills in corn not to 
be put in the silo is the New Era, that being considered 
best, because it produces seed very heavily. 

A method that is sometimes used with consider- 
able success is to plant some of the early varieties, such 
as the New Era, between the rows of corn when the 
corn is laid by, or early in July in central Missouri. 
Sometimes a mistake is made in this by not planting 
early enough. If the corn shades the ground too much 
before they get a good start, they will not make much 
growth. The great value of these plants growing with 
the corn is the feed they make and the fertility they 
add to the soil. A third value is in holding weed 
growth in subjection. 

The question often arises whether these crops 
growing in the corn injure the corn crop. Experiment 
stations have drawn the general conclusion that in a 
very dry year they perhaps injure the corn crop some- 
what if the weeds could otherwise he kept down. Un- 
der average farm conditions, however, we find three 
answers to this question. I have asked for the experi- 
ence of men before thousands of people for the past 
seven or eight years, and only three were found who 
said they believed their corn crops were injured by 
growing peas in them. Everyone said, however, that 
the difference was more than made up in the increased 
crop the next year through the fertility that had been 
added. The greatest number stated that they could 
see no difference, and there are a great many farmers 
who actually believe that the crop is benefited by cow- 
peas growing in the corn, even in the driest season. 

During one week of the dry period in 1913 I trav- 
eled nearly 200 miles over all parts of Pettis County, 
Missouri, and on account of having urged farmers to 
grow cowpeas made careful and extensive observations. 
The conclusion must be drawn that In the fields with 




-^%J 









OTHER CROPS WITH CORN 45 

cowpeas growing in the corn the corn is found during 
the drouth, on an average, better than the fields without 
cowpeas. The reason seems to be that while the cow- 
peas require very Httle moisture, they at the same time 
shade the ground completely. During the days of in- 
tense heat and heavy winds much more water is lost 
from the surface of the ground exposed to the sun- 
shine and wind than is removed by the cowpeas. 

It is well remembered by a great many who grow 
pumpkins that commonly where the best pumpkins are 
found the best corn was grown. If there is any phi- 
losophy in this, it is certainly due to the fact that dur- 
ing the hot summer the ground is completely shaded by 
pumpkin vines. Weed growth, from this same cause, 
is prevented. Some of the varieties of soy beans when 
grown in the corn will produce almost as much feed- 
ing value for pigs or lambs as the corn crop itself, and 
so the practice of growing them in corn is to be highly 
recommended. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Increasing the Fertility While 
We Grow ^orn 

Reference has been made in another chapter to 
growing cowpeas and soy beans together with corn. It 
has usually been supposed that these plants were suit- 
able only to the warmer sections of the corn belt, but 
they are certainly worth a trial in any region where 
corn is grown. There are two methods of planting, 
and sometimes both are used in the same field the same 
year. One is to drop the beans or peas in the hill with 
the corn at planting time, and the other to drill them 
between the corn rows at the time the corn is laid by. 

Soy beans can be planted earlier than it is safe 
to plant cowpeas. A common practice is to put about 
the same number of soybeans or cowpeas per hill that 
we plant grains of corn. The variety of soy beans used 
should be determined largely by the use we are to make 
of the crop. Where cowpeas are sown between the 
rows it is necessary to lay the corn by a little earlier 
than otherwise in order that the peas may have enough 
sunshine to get a good start. 

The most convenient way to plant cowpeas is with 
a one-horse grain drill made for drilling grains between 
rows of corn. This machine will lay the corn by and 
plant the peas at the same operation. New Era cow- 
peas are perhaps best for this purpose, and in medium 
to rich land about three rows in each space will be 
sufficient. Where the land is rather poor, for the pur- 
pose of fertilizing, five rows in each space is better. 
Seeding In this way requires from a peck to a third of 
a bushel per acre. 

46 



INCREASING THE FERTILITY WHILE WE GROW CORN 47 

About corn cutting time it is necessary to begin 
the harvest of the peas and beans in the corn, especially 
where the corn is not put into the silo. For this work 
of harvesting lambs are the very best. Usually from 
five to 15 head an acre can be fattened in about 60 
days. The number and the time, of course, depend 
largely on the quality of the crop. Where lambs are 
thus turned into a field for a few days they should 
be allowed in just a little while at a time, as the green 
cowpeas and soy beans are laxative and trouble is 
likely to result. 

Where there is plenty of grain on the beans and 
peas, pigs up to 75 pounds may be turned into the field, 
and they will do little or no damage to the corn as long 
as there are plenty of peas or beans. Before turning 
them in the field, however, some should be pulled for 
a few days and thrown over the fence into a dry lot, 
that the pigs may learn to like them. 

Sometimes these crops are put in with the corn 
for fertilizing purposes only. When this is done, the 
forage on the ground is plowed under after the corn 
has been removed. If the entire crop could be fed 
down, it is quite evident that corn could be grown 
on the same land for many successive years, and in the 
average case the quality of the land be greatly im- 
proved. Both cowpeas and soy beans enrich the soil 
at a wonderfully rapid rate, in addition to the feed they 
produce. It is a fact that probably nine out of every 
10 men at least who have given this work a trial are 
loud in praise of the practice. 



CHAPTER XV 
Gorn as a Peed 

On account of the convenience, ease and cheap- 
ness of corn it is perhaps the greatest favorite of all 
feeds. These things also have been instrumental in 
causing poor economy in methods of feeding. It too 
often happens that we resort to a feed of corn alone 
when a combination of feeds would be both economi- 
cal and better for the animal. 

As a single fattening feed corn has no superior 
for animals that we slaughter. As feed for horses, 
especially during summer time, it nearly always hap- 
pens that too much corn is fed in proportion to other 
feed. It is very heating, making it one of the best win- 
ter feeds, but not so desirable as a summer feed. When 
mixed with wheat, barley or oats, corn makes an admir- 
able feed for almost any kind of live stock, and nothing 
can take its place when we consider its cost. 

Wheat or barley produces a finer quality meat than 
corn, owing to the fact that they produce more lean 
tissue and less of waste in fats. It has also been found 
that a bushel of wheat and a bushel of corn in combina- 
tion produce results superior to either two bushels of 
wheat or two of corn fed separately. Wheat comes 
much more nearly feeding all of the body than does 
corn. It is rich in blood, bone and muscle-forming ma- 
terials, consequently some such feed should be always 
mixed with corn when fed to young stock, unless they 
have access to such roughage as clover, alfalfa, cow- 
pea or soy bean hay. When this roughage is used 
much less corn is needed in the ration than when other 
kinds of roughage are fed. 

48 



CORN AS A FEED 49 

With a little green clover or alfalfa or blue grass 
as a pasture hogs can be fattened with very little more 
than half the expense incurred when fed on corn alone. 
Perhaps the greatest mistake that the farmer makes 
in all his feeding is when he feeds hogs on nothing but 
corn. Some other element should always be used if 
it is expected to make economical gains. Corn with a 
little tankage, a little oil meal or some milk, or with 
alfalfa or clover pasture makes a combination that will 
keep the pigs in good health and make good money for 
the feeder. 

The question often comes up as to whether or net 
corn should be ground for feeding certain animals. It 
may never be entirely settled to the satisfaction of all, 
but it is the very general opinion that as a rule grind- 
ing the grain does not pay. Where one has his own 
machine and plenty of power to grind the corn with 
husk and cob for cattle, especially where hogs do not 
follow them, this seems to be excellent economy. Some 
claim that it is economical even though hogs do fol- 
low. While there is apparently very little food in the 
cob, it has a beneficial result by preventing an excess 
of highly nutritious food in the alimentary canal that 
possibly would have a tendency to disarrange the 
digestive organs. 

The practice of soaking corn, especially old corn 
that is dry and hard, when fed to fattening stock, usu- 
ally is to be recommended. If the soaking is properly 
done in clean water, it has a tendency to wash the dirt 
and dust from the corn, and to make it more easily mas- 
ticated, as well as causing the animal to consume more 
water. It is always economy to prepare feed for a 
fattening animal in such a way that it consumes a 
great deal of water. 

One of the most economical of all ways of feeding 
corn is by putting it through the silo. To be sure, re- 



50 MAKING CORN PAY 

moving the stalks from the field removes a little fer- 
tility and a little vegetable matter, but when they are 
put into the silo a great many more head of stock can 
be handled than otherwise and much more manure pro- 
duced in this way to be returned to the soil. When 
the manure goes back to the field it is far superior to 
the stalks we plow under, and we get returns from that 
fertility much more rapidly. It certainly will be a 
happy day when every farmer can put a part or all of 
his corn crop into the silo. Especially in drouthy years a 
great deal of feed may be thus taken care of that other- 
wise would be valueless. 

Another favorite method of handling the corn 
crop, as far as feeding is concerned, is to allow the 
fattening herds to harvest it. It is the testimony of 
almost every man who ever "hogged down" corn that 
this is a most profitable practice. If soy beans are 
grown in the corn and a variety used that ripen about 
the same time the corn ripens, hogs or sheep or lambs 
turned into the field will make most wonderful gains. 
The .sheep or lambs can be turned in about corn-cutting 
time, and when they are fattened out the hogs may be 
turned in to finish the work. 

It often happens also that a field of corn can be 
gathered by steers that are being finished for the mar- 
ket if they are to be about ready at the same time with 
the corn. They can be turned in from a heavy feed of 
corn or heavy grass in the evening when perhaps they 
are not hungry and should be turned in when the corn 
is ripe. In a few days after that the fattening hogs 
may be turned in to follow them, and it will be found 
that the hogs destroy almost no corn. This would be 
done only in the event that there were too many hogs 
in proportion to the number of steers. 

All this stock will make more rapid gains when 
they are doing their own feeding ; at the same time they 



CORN AS A FEED 51 

are hauling their own manure and gathering the crop, 
and for husking they do not charge us four or five 
cents a bushel either. They assist us to solve the labor 
problem to a very great extent if we just give them 
the right kind of a chance. After the fattening herds 
have gone to market the stockers may be turned into 
the field to clean it up, and we find that practically no 
loss at all has occurred. 

These methods are entirely practical where a man 
has his farm well fenced with hog-tight fence. Good 
fencing and plenty of it is one of the greatest econo- 
mies of the farm. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Enemies of Qorn 

On account of the great value of corn and its 
palatability for almost every creature, it has perhaps 
as many enemies to contend with as has any other 
plant. Every plant-eating animal and almost every 
plant-eating insect likes it. In a discussion of this kind, 
however, we are chiefly concerned with those insect 
pests with which the corn grower must contend. 




Fig. 13 — A Common Wireworm 

Adult and larva, enlarged; and young larvae feeding on roots 
of grass. The line below the beetle indicates its natural size. 



One of these pests is the common wire worm. Fig. 
13, a gray beetle known as the *'click beetle"; almost 
every boy is familiar with this bug. When he is placed 
on his back, he gives a quick, jerking movement and 
throws himself clear of the ground, and as he alights 
he stands at least one chance in two of alighting on his 
feet. The insect should be recognized from the illus- 

52 



ENEMIES OF CORN 53 

tration here given. The worm or larva is a slender, 
slick, yellowish worm that first attacks the grains of 
corn when planted, and later often attacks the growing 
plant. They can often be found sticking through the 
plant near the crown. 

A worm that looks very much like the wire worm 
is often found under boxes and barrels in barns and 
other buildings, especially where grain of some sort 
has been stored. A little knowledge of the life history 
and habits of this pest will suggest ideas for com- 
bating it. 

We find the wire worm giving us most trouble 
where timothy or blue grass meadows have been plowed 
up and the land put to corn. We find that the beetles 
almost always lay eggs among some of the grasses, and 
the worms when hatched live on the roots of the grass. 
We are often not aware of the mischief they do in 
meadows and pastures. They remain as worms until 
toward the first of June under ordinary conditions. 
About that time they make the last transformation 
and become beetles, when they fly away to pastures 
and meadows to lay eggs again. 

The larva lives from one to three years before 
making this transformation, depending on food condi- 
tions. Almost every creature has some means of pro- 
tection with reference to the preservation of the species, 
and when food is very scarce it appears to hasten the 
process of pupation. It occurs to us, then, that the time 
to plow grass meadows and pastures would be as late 
in fall as weather conditions allow. Breaking up the 
burrows and the exposure to winter weather destroys 
vast numbers of them. 

When such ground has been plowed for corn, work 
should begin just as early as possible in spring, and 
the soil kept thoroughly worked, and, as far as possible, 
any growth of green matter prevented. This should 



54 MAKING CORN PAY 

continue until late planting time. The scarcity of food 
will perhaps hasten the transformation of the insect, 
while if we plant such ground very early we nearly 
always lose the stand from the ravages of the worms, 
and the second planting usually goes the same way. 
If we then try a third planting, in the latitude of central 
Missouri near June 1, it nearly always makes a superb 
stand. 

When the insects have made their last transforma- 
tion there will be no further damage. In the prairie 
country especially, the wire worm has been one of our 
most serious pests. From very wide observation it ap- 
pears that the eggs are never deposited in clover, al- 
falfa, cowpeas or soy beans. I am not prepared to say, 
however, that this is absolutely true, but a number of 
years of careful watching makes this conclusion seem 
reasonable. If such be true, we can perhaps to a very 
great degree avoid damage by wire worms by a sys- 
tem of rotating crops whereby some of the legumes 
precede the corn crop the two years immediately before 
corn. By this plan we would reap a double reward 
by growing soil builders as well as preventing damage 
by wire worms. 

THE CORN STALK BORER 

This pest gives most trouble along badly kept fence 
rows or hollows, or where horse weeds are allowed to 
thrive. The horse weed is a particular favorite, and 
where they have been allowed to grow should be burned 
during the winter. The adult of this insect is a small 
moth that comes from the pupa. It lives in the pupa 
state in horse weeds and in corn stalks near the surface 
of the ground. 

The work of this pest is noticed in spring when 
the corn is from 10 inches to 2 feet high. Some of the 
top blades, it will be noticed, are dead, and when these 



ENEMIES OF CORN 55 

are taken hold of a slight pull removes them. It will 
be found on examination that a pale, striped worm, 
sometimes three-fourths of an inch long, will be found 
in the heart of the stalk. This position has caused it 
sometimes to be called the heart worm. After a while 
it leaves this position, crawls down near the ground 
and bores into the stalk not far from the surface. In 
the fall it thus finds a refuge where it winds itself into 
a cocoon. 

Its method of destruction in the corn is very easy. 
If the corn has been cut for fodder, however, the in- 
sect is not disturbed, as there is always a node or joint 
between where he is spending his time and where the 
stalk is cut, consequently he has dry quarters. Perhaps 
the most effective way of his destruction in the corn- 
field is to take a heavy harrow or drag of some sort 
and go over the field when the ground is frozen solidly, 
and the weather dry. This will smash off every stalk 
at the surface of the ground. This process kills vast 
numbers, and the stalks being shattered as well as the 
stump, the weather during the winter finishes the work. 

THE CORN ROOT WORM 

The little white grub shown in the illustration, 
Figs.T4and 15, is the corn root worm. Its destructive 
work usually begins from the middle to the last of 
July, and is indicated by the stalks falling down with- 
out apparent cause. In some large areas the stalks will 
lie in every direction. A stalk thus affected can usually 
be pulled up very easily, as many of the roots are eaten 
off. 

The eggs are laid about the plants, usually on the 
silk, and the larva drop to the ground and begin their 
work of destruction. In the northern part of the corn 
belt this pest is one of the very worst. It seems that 



56 



MAKING CORN PAY 



the larvae live on corn roots only. This fact indicates 
that an easy method of destroying them is in rotation of 
crops. In a field where the corn root worm has given 
trouble one season corn should not be planted the next 
year. By changing from one field to another we can 
easily keep out of his reach. This pest is sometimes 
referred to as a "blessing in disguise" because he makes 
us rotate our crops whether we will or not. 









1- 




s 


J ^ 


-^:^j^' 


\„ 




^^ 


--'* 



Fig. 14 — Western Corn Root Worm 
Diabrotica longicornis, adult beetle; enlarged ten diameters. 

THE COMMON WHITE GRUB 



This pest, familiar to everyone, is the larva of the 
common May beetle. Its larval life sometimes extends 
over long periods, depending very largely on food and 
weather conditions. It lives, however, mostly on the 
roots of grasses and when the ground is plowed for 
corn sometimes a great deal of destruction results. If 



ENEMIES OF CORN 



57 



hogs are given an opportunity they will root the ground 
in search of these worms, as they are very fond of 
them. 



THE CUTWORM 




There are several very closely allie<i species of this 
worm that are known by various names according to 
the habits of feeding and plants on which they live, 
Fig. 16. The common cutworm is familiar to perhaps 
everyone who ever worked in a garden or a field. It 
does not seem to be overly particular about what it eats, 
and it is known largely by its feeding method. It 

always works in 
the night and cuts 
the plant off at or 
near the surface of 
the ground. 

The cutworm 
is usually most 
troublesome in low, 
rich land and 
where grass lands 
have been plowed 
for corn. Its great- 
est destruction is in rather early spring. As the weather 
warms up it seems to burrow more deeply and pupa- 
tion begins. 

When there is likelihood of this pest giving trouble, 
the ground should be thoroughly worked in early 
spring, when plowing has been done in late fall or 
winter. It should be borne in mind that very late fall 
and winter plowing and very early working of the 
ground in spring are the most effective things that can 
be done in combating nearly all insect pests. We are 
safe in planting a little earlier where the cutworms 



Fig. 15 — Corn Root and Larva 

Corn root broken off to show larva 
of western corn root worm within; 
enlarged. 



58 



MAKING CORN PAY 



are likely to give trouble than we are in the case of 
wire worms. 

Methods of poisoning are recommended, and this 
is entirely practical in gardens or in spots or fields 
where trouble is likely to occur. The poisoning of 
wire worms has met with little or no encouragement. 




Fig. 16 — The Variegated Cutworm 

Peridroma saticia; a, adult moth, natural size; b, normal 
larva, natural size; c, same in curved position; d, dark-colored 
larva, dorsal view; e, egg, greatly enlarged; /, egg mass on 
twig, natural size. (From Howard, U. S. Dept. Agri.) 

One method of poisoning is to moisten wheat bran 
with sweetened water, preferably sweetened with 
sorghum molasses ; with a bushel of bran thor- 
oughly mix about one-fourth pound paris green. This 
poisoned bran is then placed in the evening in little 
piles over the ground where the insects will find it dur- 



ENEMIES OF CORN 



59 



ing the night, and vast numbers of them are destroyed, 
as they seem to prefer it to the young corn. When 
these worms are poisoned usually none of them will 
be seen on the surface of the ground, as immediately 
after eating the bran they burrow into the ground, 
where they die. In the above method of poisoning, 
however, we are likely to poison birds, which we do 
not like to do. Another method of poisoning that is 




Fig. 17 — Corn Worm 

Heliothis armiger; a, b, eggs greatly 
enlarged; e, larva; d, pupa; c, f, adults. 

entirely safe is to take young clover plants and soak 
them for a few hours in sweetened water in which 
paris green has been stirred. These sprigs of clover 
can be strewn over the ground in the evening and the 
worms will work on it in the night. About the only 
practical method, however, on large areas, is very late 
winter plowing, especially early and thorough work in 
the spring and planting late. 



60 



MAKING CORN PAY 



THE CORN EAR WORM 

The corn ear worm, shown in the ilkistration, Fig. 
17, together with some of the mischief it does, is 
famihar to everybody who grows corn. This is con- 
sidered one of the worst of all pests and is perhaps 
the most difficult to combat. It is found, however, that 
the larvae live in the ground during winter and that 
late plowing and early spring work is the most effective 
plan. Rotation of crops helps on this one because it 
is commonly known that late corn, or corn making a 
slow growth, is nearly always attacked worst by all 
enemies, especially this one. 

It is often found that one field of corn will be 

almost free from 
attack where the 
ground is fertile 
and vigorous 
growth has been 
maintained, when 
just across the 
fence under the re- 
verse conditions a 
worm can be found 
in almost every 
ear. It has been 
supposed by some 
that this worm dust 
in certain drouthy 
years when all in- 
sect pests are ap- 
parently worse has 
something to do 
with the destruc- 
tion of live stock. 
It has been thought 




Fig. 18 — Worker Ant 

Lasius niger alienus; enlarged eight 
and one-fourth diameters. This ant 
is always found where there are corn 
root lice. It is the one that burrows 
above the hills of young corn. Root 
lice can be found on the roots of the 
plants around which it burrows. 



ENEMIES OF CORN 



61 



that the worm dust has some effect in pro- 
ducing a swine disease that seems to bear some 
resemblance to pneumonia. Where corn is very wormy 
it seems wise to shell it and thoroughly fan the dust 
out before feeding. 

THE CORN ROOT LOUSE 

This pest is much more common than is usually 
supposed. It is but very rarely it kills a corn plant, 
but merely dwarfs it and makes it unthrifty and often 



««* \ 






X 

^f 


' J 




1 


i.-/ 


J 


^ 


!;-.,s*=2S«3a/v ;;-■>, 






c 


;,;.;..•,! 



Fig. 19 — Corn Root Aphis 

Aphis maidiradicis, winged viviparous female ; enlarged six- 
teen diameters. 



prevents its producing an ear. The pest can usually 
be known to exist in every hill of corn where little 
ants are seen burrowing. 

The illustration^, Figs. 18, 19 and 20, show the in- 
sect, also the ant that is always associated with it. This 
ant is sometimes called the "dairying" ant and the bug 
the "dairy cow" of the ant. It will be noted that there 



62 



MAKING CORN PAY 



are two little glands on the back portion of the insect. 
These little glands exude a sweetish fluid or a honey 
dew, as it is sometimes called, and the ant uses this 
for food. There are a great many varieties of plant 
louse and it will be noted that where they are found 
ants of some sort are always present. 

In autumn the ants 
gather the eggs of these in- 
sects and place them in their 
own burrows, caring for 
them until they hatch in the 
spring and caring for the 
young bugs until they are 
large enough to do their 
own feeding, when they 
carry them and place them 
on the roots of plants, pref- 
erably corn. If no corn can 
be found smartweed seems 
to be second choice. They 
will live, however, on prac- 
tically anything that is 
green. This fact should be 
remembered, as we want to 
refer to it a little later. 

When these bugs hatch 
in spring some have wings 
and some have not. All 
that hatch in spring are 
females. The winged ones 
go from the parent colony to other plants to start new 
colonies. During summer each one gives birth to living 
young, which are in turn all females. Thus each suc- 
ceeding brood continues to produce living young during 
the summer months until late in fall, when young arc 
produced of which some are male and some female. 




Fig. 20 — Corn Root Aphis 

Aphis maidiradicis, wing- 
less viviparous female ; 
greatly enlarged; a, apex of 
abdomen still more en- 
larged. 



ENEMIES OF CORN 



63 



These two sexes mate and eggs are laid for the next 
spring's brood. 

When looking for the pest, note a hill of corn 
where the ants are burrowing and pull it out very 
carefully or lift it with a spade. Sometimes great 
numbers of bugs will be found in the crotches of the 
roots, some of them as large as pin heads and others 
almost too small to be seen with the naked eye. A care- 
ful examination will re- 
veal that the ants have 
removed the dirt from 
a root or roots where 
the bugs are at work in 
order to facilitate the 
bugs' employment, and 
to make it convenient 
for the ants at "milking 
time." 

The means of eradi- 
cation we have at hand 
are freezing and starv- 
ing. If we have planted 
our corn, however, and 
the pests are in it, all we 
can do that we know of 
is to cultivate thoroughly 
in order to give the 
corn the best opportunity to grow so fast that the work 
of the bugs is not so detrimental. When a field has 
been infested with these pests, fall and winter plowing, 
early spring work to keep down weed growth and me- 
dium late planting of corn is the most we can do. Crop 
rotation is somewhat effective — more, however, as a 
means of producing vigorous growth than of the de- 
struction of the insects. 

Two common enemies of the plant louse can al- 




FlG. 21- 



-The Fall Army 
Worm 



Laphygma frugiperda; a, 
adult moth, natural size ; h, c, 
wings showing variations, natu- 
ral size. (From Riley.) 



64 



MAKING CORN PAY 



most always be found among the varieties of louse that 
feed above the ground. These are the ichneumon fly 
and the "ladybird." The ichneumon fly is not much 
larger than a gnat and somewhat resembles a small 
ant with wings. This little fly lays an tgg in the skin 
of these lice and in a short time the eggs hatch a little 

worm. This burrows 
into the body of the 
louse, where it lives a 
short time, and when it 
gets ready to make the 
transformation into an 
adult fly it cuts a little 
hole in the back and up- 
per portion of the louse 
that very much resem- 
bles a trap door. This 
process, of course, kills 
the louse and the fly 
makes its escape a per- 
fect insect, when it is 
then ready to go in 
search of other insects 
in which to deposit its 
eggs. This little fly, in- 
cidentally, is perhaps our 
most efi:'ective helper in the destruction of the Hes- 
sian fly. 

The "ladybird" is a little oval-shaped bug, usu- 
ally red with black spots. This is one of our very best 
friends, as it lives entirely on insects and insect eggs. 
The ladybird lays eggs from which are hatched little 
gray-colored larvae or worms that have two sharp hooks 
on their heads. These insects can run very rapidly. 
They destroy plant lice by the thousands. The larva 
does not exceed a half inch in length, has light gray or 




-The Fall Army 
Worm 

Laphygma frugiperdas ; a, 
larva, natural size; b, its head, 
enlarged ; c, d, its body seg- 
ments, enlarged. (From Riley.) 



ENEMIES OF CORN 



65 



brown stripes running crosswise, and the body has a 
few hairs along the margin. The legs are all toward 
the front part of the body. 

It sometimes will be noted that tliese colonies of 
plant lice are practically going to destroy everything, 
yet a little while later we find them nearly all destroyed, 
their dead bodies adhering to the leaves on which they 
had been feeding. The life history and habits of this 
insect are among the most interesting studies in all 
nature. 

THE ARMY WORM 

The true army worm has been named by the habit 
of living in large colonies and destroying everything 
green along its pathway. When they begin work in a 
field of corn perhaps not much better could be done 
than thoroughly rolling the ground two or three times 
in rather close succession with a roller weighted as 
heavily as possible. Where it is possible to do so if 
pigs can be turned in they will destroy them very 
rapidly. One of the most efficient sources of destruc- 
tion is the common enemy of the army worm, a small 
fly somewhat resembling the common house fly. These 
flies deposit eggs on the bodies of the worms and the 
larvae of the fly eventually destroy the worm. 

THE FALL ARMY WORM 

This is not a true army worm, but perhaps is allied 
more closely to the cutworm, Figs. 21 and 22. It ap- 
pears in the fall on various new crops about the time 
grass begins to dry up. Their destruction is greatest 
on wheat, rye and other fall-sown crops following a 
dry year. If the season is moist, so that grass grows 
well during the entire summer, little fear need be felt 



66 MAKING CORN PAY 

of the fall army worm doing mischief to fall-sown 
crops. Where they have begun trouble, however, 
heavy rolling is perhaps one of the most effective means 
of destroying them. A plan that has sometimes been 
recommended where there is a grove near and plenty 
of blackbirds in it, is to sow a little white corn on the 
surface of the ground in the region where the worms 
are giving trouble. The birds easily find the corn and 
while at work at that discover the worms. As the 
birds are very fond of the worms they soon work their 
destruction. 

THE CHINCH BUG 

This is one of our very serious pests, especially in 
parts of the country where wheat is grown extensively. 
The chinch bug continues to multiply very rapidly un- 
til an excessively wet year occurs, when most of them 
meet destruction, apparently by disease. They usually 
attack the corn as soon as small grains ripen and har- 
vesting is done. They do their damage by sucking the 
juices from the plants. An effective means of pre- 
venting their entering the corn field from a wheat field 
is to plow a few furrows between the fields, and by 
back furrowing and using a rolling cutter set just a lit- 
tle to the outside of the shin a smooth wall is made, and 
with a post augur holes are made at intervals into 
which the bugs fall. They cannot climb these per- 
pendicular walls, hence perish. 

Where weather conditions will not admit of this 
treatment a smooth strip of ground is arranged and an 
evenly tarred string, such as binder twine, is placed 
along the ground. It is found that the bugs will not 
cross it. Another efifective means of combating chinch 
bugs is very evident when we learn its habits of living 
over winter. They crawl under rails, boards or sticks 



ENEMIES OF CORN 67 

and gather around the roots of clumps of grass or any- 
where they may find shelter. They also collect in vast 
numbers between the stalk of corn and the sheath of 
the plant that surrounds it. When corn stalks are thus 
infested they should be burned in winter. In regions 
where chinch bugs give trouble all clumps of grass 
should be burned, the fire being set on a still, dry day 
in order that it will burn as deeply into the roots as 
possible. Cleaning up all trash and rubbish is also very 
helpful. 

THE GRASSHOPPER 

It is hardly necessary to take space to describe the 
grasshopper, as almost every boy knows that this pest 
has two teeth set in very heavy jaws and that he is a 
great feeder ; that during the noontime when we have 
left the pitchfork leaning against a shock of hay he 
likes to get upon the handle and gnaw it, no doubt be- 
cause of the salt left upon it from the perspiration of 
our hands. The grasshopper's appetite and his boldness 
about it has led, to a very great degree, to his undoing. 

One of the older methods of destroying grass- 
hoppers was by an apparatus known as the "hopper 
dozer." This is made something like a long trough 
with a shield at the back. A horse is hitched at each 
end, and it is dragged across the field, after kerosene 
has been put in the bottom of the trough. The hop- 
pers fly against the screen and fall into the oil ; only a 
small particle of oil touching him means death. 

It has been found, however, that a better and more 
certain way is to poison them with poisoned bran, using 
in addition to the formula given for cutworms a little 
salt. The grasshopper is very fond of salt and the 
sorghum may well be omitted from the bran, but the 



68 MAKING CORN PAY 

salt should always accompany it. It is very doubtful 
whether birds that destroy grasshoppers would be in- 
jured by eating those that had been poisoned, as it is 
doubtful if enough is consumed by the bird to kill it. 

There is one of the species known as the Rocky 
Mountain locust concerning which people who can re- 
member back as far as the early seventies can recall 
scenes they hope will never be repeated. Those of us 
who remember what is known as the grasshopper year 
can remember seeing the air almost as full of hoppers 
as they were rising as we have ever seen it filled with 
snowflakes. We have seen entire fields completely 
stripped of every green thing upon them. These 
grasshopper years in some states have been prevalent 
to such a degree that had they been general over the 
country a destructive famine would have followed. 



o 



in 




CHAPTER XVII 
Selecting ©opn for Show 

A discussion of corn for showing seems important 
here, since almost every community in the corn belt is 
giving attention to growing fancy corn. In selecting 
a sample for the show the rules largely govern as in 
selecting anything else for exhibition. Trueness to 
type, quality, conformation and uniformity in all points 
are the chief features. In selecting the 10 ears we 
should use every effort to have the ears as nearly alike 
in every possible particular as we can find them. This 
is no easy thing to do, as can be verified by anyone 
who has selected show corn for a few years. It some- 
times appears that entire fields are searched, and yet we 
are unable to find 10 ears that can win a good prize. 

Each ear should conform to the standard for that 
variety, and it will be found many times that the ear 
having the finest conformation and that is truest to type 
will be a little too large or a little too small to match 
the others. In selecting a driving team we would cer- 
tainly not select a team varying in size, form, nor 
action. If to pull a big load was the only object, we 
might get a good pulling team by securing a large mule 
and a good-sized horse. For feeding purposes it mat- 
ters little as to whether or not an ear is fancy, but in 
the show ring we keep foremost in mind the idea of re- 
production. This being true, the larger ear is not 
necessarily the best ear at all. The ear that contains 
the grains that, when planted, will produce a greater 
amount of good corn than others is the objective point 
of the seed corn grower. 

A sample of show ears should be of equal length, 



70 MAKING CORN PAY 

equal circumference, equal number of rows, uniform 
indentation, and free from indications of mixture. A 
good deal of practice will be found necessary before 
any person can become a winner in some of the great 
corn shows of the country. Every state corn growers' 
association, or its university, has a score card giving 
most nearly the requirements of that particular locality. 
Th-ese cards can usually be secured without cost by 
addressing the college of agriculture and on each card 
will be found full instructions as to how the points 
should be graded. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
Qorn Qontests 

Corn contests have been instituted in every state 
of the corn belt, and some remarkable results secured. 
The greatest number of bushels to the acre is not the 
only point to be gained, because when a boy once gets 
into the work of growing fancy corn it usually means 
that his life will be spent upon the farm. It is one of 
the easiest of all ways by which we can begin to teach 
him to apply his brain in farm work. It is perhaps true 
that on an average the boys between the ages of 14 and 
20 years are better judges of show corn than are men 
60 years old. This is because the older ones were not 
given the training the younger ones have received. It 
can always be noted at any show or fair that an exhibi- 
tion of corn is most attractive and the judging contests 
and the acre-yield contests are productive of great in- 
terest. Every county, at least in the corn belt, should 
have an organization and use every possible means to 
interest our young people in the production of crops of 
greater quantity and better quality. 



n 



CHAPTER XIX 
FeptSUzers for Qorn 

It is commonly known that barnyard manure is 
one of the best of all fertilizers, yet the fact remains 
that there is practically no farm on which a sufficient 
amount of barnyard manure is produced to supply the 
demands of the various crops. For corn as well as 
some of the other grains excessive manure is not en- 
tirely satisfactory because manure may be termed an 
''unbalanced'' fertilizer. This is noticeable where feed 
lots are broken up for planting corn, or sowing to small 
grains. We always find in such places a good supply 
of humus, as well as a good supply of nitrogen ; but 
it often occurs that this feed lot soil is deficient in both 
phosphorus and potash. This is evident from the fact 
that usually an enormous amount of stalk growth oc- 
curs, which indicates plenty of nitrogen. We often find 
that the grain is not in proportion to the plant growth. 
This indicates a shortage of phosphorus. We find also 
in such cases that the grains are likely to stalk-fall 
badlv, showing a lack of potash in the soil. Even a 
feed lot, therefore, can sometimes be benefited by the 
addition of phosphorus and potash. 

The worn soils are almost always deficient in nitro- 
gen ; most of them deficient in phosphorus and a great 
many deficient in potash. Every farmer should be able 
to determine from the behavior of his crops about 
what fertilizers are needed; usually a complete fer- 
tilizer of some sort is used, but where cowpeas or soy 
beans or clover has been growing on the land a few 
previous years we need be at no further expense to buy 
nitrogen as a commercial fertilizer. Under those cir- 

72 



FERTILIZERS FOR CORN 7Z 

cumstances, however, we would need to supply phos- 
phorus and potash as a commercial fertilizer. 

The methods of applying fertilizers vary accord- 
ing to the composition of the soil. Fertilizers may be 
put more deeply in a soil of tight or fine texture than 
in a sandy or more porous soil. The tendency in porous 
soil is too much toward leaching 

If manure is applied, perhaps one of the best ways 
is to plow it under, when the plowing can be done in the 
fall. This is also true in the tight soils where it is 
desired to grow corn, as it induces the roots to grow 
more deeply than if the manures were applied closer to 
the surface. It is not a very safe practice, however, to 
plow heavy coatings of vegetable matter under in the 
spring or at such time as they will not be well rotted 
during the earlier part of the growing season. Un- 
decayed vegetable matter interferes with the capillary 
action of water in the soil, and crops are likely to suffer 
during the dry weather. 

Where commercial fertilizer is used it is put in 
with the fertilizer attachment on the planter as often 
as any other way. This commonly gives very good re- 
sults unless the season be very dry. causing corn to 
burn out because of the shallow root system induced 
by the fertilizer being too near the surface. It, no 
doubt, gives better results when the fertilizer is placed 
an inch, 1^ inches or 2 inches deeper than the corn is 
planted. There is some objection to using fertilizer on 
all the field, as it induces weed growth between the 
rows, and some of it is thus lost, making cropping 
operations more expensive. 

We are always safe to use commercial fertilizers 
as long as we do not lose sight of the fact that we must 
at all hazards keep up the humus content of the soil. 
In applying commercial fertilizer every farmer should 



74 MAKING CORN PAY 

attempt to understand as well as possible what his soil 
needs and buy such brands as will most nearly meet that 
demand. It too often happens that we apply a certain 
element in fertilizer that our ground perhaps does not 
need. In such an event money and time are wasted. 



Index 



Page 

Army worm 65 

Brace roots of corn 3 

Chinch bug 66 

Click beetle 52 

Color, influence on feeding value.. 22 

Com binder 41-42 

contests 71 

car worm 60 

fertilizers for 72 

greatest fattening feed 48 

root louse 61-62 

root louse, enemies of 64 

root worm 55 

selecting for show 69 

soaking for feed 49 

stalk borer, 54-55 

Cover crops in corn 44 

Cowpeas, desirable varieties of ... 43 

in corn 43 

Crops, planting in corn field . . . .43-45 
Cultivation, how much require I.. 35 

in dry seasons 37 

influence on soil 32 

influence on yield 37 

principles of 31 

tools employed in 33 

Cultivators, disk type 34 

types of 34 

Cutworm 57 

Deep tilling 17 

Disk, early use of 19 

for preparing soil 18-19 

Drilling corn, advantage of 26 

Ear, height on stalk 4 

Fertilizing for corn 72-74 

Fodder, field curing 40 

Grasshopper 67-68 

Harrow, type of 34 

use of 18 

Harvesting, eliminating waste .... 39 

Hogging off com 50-51 

Insect enemies of com 52 

Joints, influence on seed ear ... 4 

Leaves, type of 4 

Listing, advantages of 23-24 

Moisture content of soil 16 

Pests, army worm 65 

chinch bug 66 

click beetle 52 

corn ear worm 60 

com root louse 61-62 

corn root worm 55 



Page 

Pests, com stalk borer 54-55 

cutworm 57 

grasshopper 67-68 

methods of poisoning 58-59 

Pests, white grub 56 

wire worm 53-54 

Planting, advantage of early 30 

distance apart 28 

distance between rows 28 

dropping in hills 27 

furrow opener method 24 

hilling and drilling 26 

proper time of 29 

surface method 25 

with lister 23-24 

Plowing, depth of 16 

early or late 17-18 

fall or spring 17 

methods of 17 

Poisoning com insect pests ....58-59 

Pumpkins in corn field 45 

Rape growing in com field 43 

Root system 3 

Seed bed preparation 16 

breeding plat 8 

com detasseling 10 

corn selection 1 

corn testing 13 

drying and storing 6-7 

ear, when io shell 7 

fundamentals 2 

gathering from field 6 

ideal ear for 5 

plat, management of 9 

selecting from field 2 

yield from fancy ears 11 

Silo an economy 39 

Snapping corn 41 

Soy beans, desirable varieties of. . 43 

growing in com 43 

Stalk, desirable type of 2 

Stock, fattening in corn field 47 

Testing, box method 14 

methods of 13-14 

rag baby method 14 

work in schools 15 

Varieties 20 

Weeder, cultivating corn with 33 

White grub 56 

Wire worm 53-54 

Yield, increase from selected seed 6 
influence of seed bed on 19 



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